A 150-square-foot Boston store trafficked nearly $7 million in SNAP benefits
Antonio Bonheur, 74, owned Jesula Variety Store, a 150-square-foot shop in Boston's Mattapan neighborhood, where he personally worked the register exchanging SNAP benefits for cash. His monthly SNAP redemptions, ranging from $100,000 to $500,000, far outpaced a full-service supermarket in the same area. He also sold liquor for SNAP and resold donated humanitarian food meant for hungry children overseas. Arrested alongside co-defendant Saul Alisme in December 2025, Bonheur pleaded guilty in March 2026 to food stamp fraud and wire fraud, forfeited nearly $400,000 in seized proceeds, and was sentenced in July 2026 to two years in federal prison and $1 million in restitution.
- Year
- 2026
- Where
- United States
- Outcome
- Sentenced
- Reported loss
- $7.0 million
- Victims
- Not stated in the sources
- Schemes
- SNAP benefits trafficking
- Last reviewed
- 2026-10-14
The facts, as recorded
- Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan, Boston, owned Jesula Variety Store, a roughly 150-square-foot variety store occupying a single street-facing storefront.
- The store's monthly SNAP redemptions regularly exceeded $100,000, with many months above $300,000 and, at times, $500,000, compared with approximately $82,000 a month for a full-service supermarket in the same area.
- Transaction-level data showed only about 10% of the store's SNAP transactions were under $40, while more than 70% exceeded $95, a pattern typically seen at large supermarkets rather than small variety stores.
- During undercover operations, SNAP benefits were trafficked for cash from Jesula Variety Store on four occasions and from co-defendant Saul Alisme's Saul Mache Mixe Store on two occasions; in each instance the defendant personally worked the register.
- Both stores also sold liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits, and sold donated MannaPack meals, a food product manufactured by the nonprofit Feed My Starving Children and never authorized for retail sale, for about $8 per package.
- Bonheur maintained numerous secondary bank accounts to move, withdraw and redeposit SNAP proceeds, creating the appearance of legitimate business activity.
- Despite receiving millions of dollars a year in SNAP redemptions through his store, Bonheur was issued a SNAP card for his own personal use by the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, after making false statements about his income and assets.
- Bonheur and Alisme were arrested and charged in December 2025. Bonheur pleaded guilty in March 2026 to one count of food stamp fraud and one count of wire fraud, and agreed to forfeit nearly $400,000 in proceeds seized during the investigation.
- US District Judge Indira Talwani sentenced Bonheur in early July 2026 to two years in federal prison, followed by two years of supervised release, and ordered $1 million in restitution in addition to the forfeiture.
- The scheme trafficked a total of nearly $7 million in SNAP benefits; Bonheur personally kept roughly 20% of the proceeds.
Why this case matters
This is the largest and most recent documented case on this page, and the clearest illustration that a single, unremarkable-looking storefront can run a multi-million-dollar fraud without any outside network, recruiters or shell companies. Bonheur worked the register himself.
The data pattern that gave it away
A 150-square-foot store with one register and minimal food inventory redeeming more SNAP benefits per month than a full-service supermarket nearby is not a subtle anomaly. Prosecutors’ own transaction analysis, comparing the store’s redemption volume and transaction-size mix against similarly situated businesses, is what first flagged the pattern before any undercover buy took place.
Selling food meant for starving children overseas
Beyond swapping SNAP for cash, Bonheur resold MannaPack meals, a donated humanitarian food product paid for entirely by charitable donations and intended for shipment to food-insecure children overseas, for about $8 a package in his own store. These meals are never authorized for retail sale at all, making this a separate abuse layered on top of the core trafficking scheme.
A scheme that also claimed his own benefits
Bonheur did not just profit from other recipients’ benefits; he was collecting his own SNAP card from the state after reporting false income and assets, despite running a store that took in millions of dollars a year in SNAP redemptions.
The caveat
Bonheur pleaded guilty and has been sentenced; the facts above, including the dollar figures, the transaction data and the resale of liquor and donated food, come from the Justice Department’s own account of the charges he admitted to and the evidence behind his sentence, not from an unproven accusation. His co-defendant, Saul Alisme, was charged in the same December 2025 complaint but is a separate case; nothing in the public record reviewed for this page shows an outcome for Alisme, who is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Sources
- Store Owner Admits to Multi-Million-Dollar SNAP Fraud Scheme. US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts. Accessed 2026-10-14. Supports: Bonheur's identity, age, store, guilty plea, charges, the monthly redemption and transaction-size figures, the undercover buys, the liquor and MannaPack resale, the secondary bank accounts, the fraudulently obtained SNAP card, and the $400,000 forfeiture.
- Two Massachusetts Men Charged with Large-Scale SNAP Benefits Trafficking. US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts. Accessed 2026-10-14. Supports: The December 2025 arrest and charges against Bonheur and co-defendant Saul Alisme, Alisme's own store, and the two-store undercover buy counts.
- Boston Store Owner Sentenced After $7 Million SNAP Fraud Scheme. Townhall. Accessed 2026-10-14. Supports: The sentencing outcome of two years in prison and two years of supervised release, the $1 million restitution order, the roughly 20% of proceeds Bonheur personally kept, and the official quotes from US Attorney Leah B. Foley, USDA OIG Special Agent Charmeka Parker and FBI Special Agent Ted E. Docks.